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“Look—he’s with the half-Fae, half-vampire!”
“Technical y, gentlemen, I’m al vampire. I was half-Fae, half-human—” But my attempted correction didn’t go over wel and the guy lunged at me, aiming the handle of the sign at my chest.
Chase pul ed out his baton and swung it, catching the sign handle before it came near me.
“Try it and you’l be headed right for jail.”
“Kil ing a vampire isn’t against the law.” The man eyed me, his gaze glittering and dangerous.
“Maybe not, but I’l guarantee you that I wil find enough charges to make you rot in jail for years.
Trust me. ” Chase’s voice was an icicle waiting to crash, and the guy stepped back. Once again, I wondered how our detective had gained such a control factor in his timbre. It had to be the Nectar of Life. Question was: How far would it take Chase in his powers?
We wormed our way through without further incident, though the minute we crossed the line, Chase motioned me in front of him so his back was to the picketers and not mine. He showed his credentials to the doorman and we passed through into the spacious lobby.
The building was lit by soft yel ow lights. A gleaming chandelier hung from the central lobby, and two very tough-looking guards stood near the elevator. The front desk was manned by an equal y formidable-looking woman. If I didn’t know better, I’d think they were werewolves. Chances were good they were Were-something. You just didn’t get muscle like that on your typical Fae. They could be vampire, I supposed, but that meant they’d had to scour for some super-buff dudes.
Although al vampires were strong, few looked it.
We halted by the first elevator and once again, Chase showed his credentials. The man nodded us by and we slipped into the car. Chase pressed the button for floor eleven, and we rode in silence as the elevator chugged smoothly up the shaft.
The doors opened with a whisper of a sigh, and we stepped out into a hal carpeted in burgundy. The wal s were a pale ivory, and the trim was dark cherry. Rich and lustrous, the building screamed old money, silent money, money and comfort and tradition.
As we came to the door marked 1133, I thought that Wade had certainly moved up in the world.
Chase glanced at me, and I nodded. He pressed the doorbel and chimes rang from within.
A moment later, Wade answered. He gave me a smile, but it faded as Chase stepped forward.
“Wade Stevens? I’m afraid you’re going to have to come down to the station and answer a few questions about the murders of five young women. We’ve had a tip that you’re involved, and we need you to fil us in on where you were the nights of each murder.”
Wade blinked, slowly. His smile fading into an accusatory glower, he grabbed his leather jacket and silently fol owed us back to the elevator.
CHAPTER 18
Wade sul enly got into Chase’s car, and I kept a close eye on the dark sedan al the way to the FH-CSI building, but apparently Wade decided not to make any trouble. We pul ed into headquarters and I joined them on the way in.
Wade gave me a soft smile. “Chase told me you had nothing to do with this.”
“You thought I did?” Great, so that was what the scowl was for.
“I just . . . yeah, it crossed my mind. I was wrong. I’m sorry.” The leather of his jacket was stil new, and it made a crunching noise as he reached over the top of my head to hold the door open for me.
I slid beneath his arm and in through the door. Wade fol owed, and Chase brought up the rear.
We headed toward Conference Room One. Chase shut the door behind us and flipped on the light. Wade offered me a chair, then took a seat.
“Okay, let’s get this out in the open,” he said. “You got a tip that said I’m your serial kil er. What do you need to prove I’m not, other than my word?”
“What were you doing in the park last night? I know what you told me, but you’d better tel Chase because if the tipster real y wants to frame you up, he might be watching you and it wouldn’t be hard to make you look suspicious.”
“What? What park?” Chase asked.
“I found Wade in the park last night. In fact, we had a nice long talk about what he was doing there, among other things. I don’t believe for a moment that he’s our kil er. But we should get everything out in the open.” I leaned forward. “You said you were looking for the kil er?”
“Yeah. I decided you guys could use some extra help. When you told me about him, it rang a bel . I thought I remembered someone from a Vampires Anonymous meeting a few months back.
He only came once, and something seemed off about him. I remembered he said he lives around the Greenbelt Park District, so I decided to try to ferret him out.”
